Communicate…Then Wait
Posted on Friday, January 18, 2008 by Frank RocheHere’s the hallmark of effective HR communication: Have the nerve to stand your ground.
Scenario: You start the communication process about a new pay plan. You have a release schedule to cascade messages and technical details throughout your organization. You send out the first communication — and then you get criticized. Blistered. So what do you do?
Don’t Bend With the Wind
If your communication strategy is “bend with the wind,” then you panic. You question your plan. You worry. You ask your critics what you should do. You rewrite. You stumble. And you cave. Any communication credibility you had is gone.
Communicate…Then Wait
On the other hand, if your communication strategy is “commmunicate…then wait,” you process the criticism. You integrate essential information into your next communication. You realize that everyone with a pen thinks they’re a communicator, but you know you are. You’re confident because you planned. You resist the urge to over-react. And your credibility stays intact.
The Value of Perspective
What separates good HR communication from crappy HR communication is 1) getting it right; 2) speaking clearly, and: 3) having the guts to stick with your plan when you get a little criticism. When you have the courage of your convictions behind you, it’s easier to recognize when “criticism” is from one person, and not necessarily representative of thousands of opinions. Do people who like what you wrote speak up? Rarely. But the armchair critics sure do. Don’t let them get a disproportionate vote. Said simply, “Communicate…then wait.”
Scott McArthur
Jan 18th, 2008
Nice idea. It’s a bit like planting a seed one day and digging it up the next day to see if it has grown!
JT
Jan 19th, 2008
Great advice. Two thoughts from me.
This reminds me of one of my two or three favorite quotes. It is from the Buddha. A common command of course, especially from parents and managers is “don’t just stand there, DO something!” The Buddha teaches – “don’t just do something, stand there.”
Second thought is a time when I took the advice of Frank and Buddha. We put out some communication about benefits and pay, intended to hit an hourly workforce and use some humor. The materials included the line, “[N]obody says, ‘got to use my disability beneift – YEAH!’” The point was that everybody likes more pay, but we don’t always “like” the value in our benefits.
After printing 90,000 copies of this thing, the president of the company asked me at a meeting of our “executive committee” about the piece, he picked it up and happened upon the “diability” line. He slowly looked up and asked me, non-rhetorically, if I was crazy. My only response was to ask him if he thought he would: 1. read the next line and 2. ever forget this benefit statement among the many that he had read. The only additional response on my part was silence.
That was this past fall. As of Friday, I still had a job there.
HR Wench
Jan 19th, 2008
This post totally validates my PAIN!! I go through this with the president of my company all the time. He will see the initial reaction from a few whiners regarding an HR communication and totally panic. I have to calm him down and convince him to wait it out a bit. It takes a few days for him to figure out the sky isn’t falling and most employees are on board with the announcement. I think this is why he says to me “you’re a pain in the @ss, but I need you”. I’d like to think he really means HR can be a pain, not me personally, but who knows.
Frank Roche
Jan 20th, 2008
JT, you know what’s killer? When a comment is better than the post. What a freakin’ great story.
HR Wench, ain’t it the truth? Taking a little cleansing breath helps. And if you’re JT, so does chutzpah.
Scott, great metaphor.
Folks, I’m dazzled by this set of comments. Amazing.
JT
Jan 20th, 2008
BTW – Frank and his firm iFractal are the house communications for me and my company.